342 Gejieral Noticei, 



out of sheet-lead, 2 J in. long, and 3J in. broad; and ©n these the name 

 is stamped, letter by letter, with steel types. The plate of lead is next 

 soldered to one end of a piece of iron wire ; after which the tally receives two 

 or three coats of dark lead-coloured paint ; and, lastly, a coat of white paint is 

 put over the lettered side, taking care that it does not get into the letters. 

 Before the tally is inserted in the ground, the upper part of the shank is bent 

 a little to one side, the better to show the name to an eye which is near 

 it, and considerably above its level. The lead used should be about one tenth 

 of an inch in thickness, and the iron wire not less than one eighth of an inch 

 in diameter. The plumber will furnish the lead, cut into plates of the proper 

 size, and he will also solder them on, after they are stamped, to the shanks. 

 The shanks, cut into ;he proper length, and also the steel stamps for stamping 

 the letters, may be procured from the ironmonger ; and the letters can be 

 stamped on, and_^the whole tally painted, by the gardener, during weather when 

 he cannot work out of doors. To insure correct spelling, the person stamp- 

 ing the names should have a printed catalogue before him, as the error of a 

 single letter will render the whole of the labour bestowed on the plate quite 

 useless. Tallies of this sort will last a lifetime; when stuck in the ground, 

 they are just conspicuous enough to be read easily, and not so much so as to 

 attract more attention than the plants against which they are placed ; and, from 

 the smallness of the shank, it is neither conspicuous to the eye, nor injurious 

 to the roots, — James Eaton. Melhury Gardens, April 27. 1838. [We can con- 

 firm from experience all that is said in favour of stamped tallies, having had 

 several hundreds of them in use at Bayswater, for the last twelve years; some, 

 like Mr. Eaton's, with shanks, for plants in the free soil, and others, on strips 

 of sheet lead, 4 in. long, five eighths of an inch broad at one end, and one eighth 

 of an inch broad at the other, for plants in pots. We have also used what may 

 be called an invisible number for plants in the open air ; which is a circular 

 plate of lead, about the size of a waistcoat button, or larger if necessary, on 

 which the number is stamped ; and the plate or button is afterwai'ds soldered 

 to the end of a piece of i-inch iron wii-e, so as to resemble the head to a 

 nail. Such a number, stuck in near the crown of an herbaceous plant, will be 

 so concealed by its leaves, as not to be seen till it is sought for ; and thus, 

 while it affords the means of ascertaining with certainty the name of a plant 

 when required, it does not obtrude that name upon those who already know 

 it, or care little about it. Before being stuck in the ground, the tally should 

 receive two or three coats of lead-coloured paint ; or the head, or leaden part, 

 maybe painted with common paint; and the iron shank with anticorrosive 

 paint, or heated, and afterwards washed over with gas tar. — Cond.] 



Progress of Education in rearing and training Brute Animals. — The effect 

 of gentleness in teaching the human species had not been long observed, before 

 (generalising on the subject) it was applied in the case of brute animals in a 

 state of domestication; and it has been found that the domestic animals used 

 in agriculture, and for military and commercial purposes, may be trained to do 

 their work much more effectually, and with far less labour, by gentleness, than 

 by force. This has been lately beautifully exemplified in the education of 

 cavalry horses; and the following extract on this subject, is from a paper, in a 

 recent number of the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, by Mr. Marshall, 

 Assistant-Surgeon to the Seventh Dragoon Guards. We give it as quoted in 

 the Scotsman o( April 18. 1838: — "The principal object in the treatment of 

 young horses is to render them docile ; and the same gentle means are now 

 used for that purpose, which are found to answer best in the treatment of 

 children. They are rendered quiet and tractable by frequent patting, handling, 

 and rubbing them, and by taking up their feet. They are led about the bar- 

 rack yard to accustom them to the sight of mounted horses, and to the glitter 

 of arms ; and, in the course of four or five months afterwards, they are trans- 

 ferred to the riding-school to be trained. The good old plan, like that pre- 

 ferred by our ancestors for teaching boys Latin and Greek, was to whip 

 all fear and shyness out of them ; but kindness and common sense have 



